New King's Buildings Library

Contractor appointed, construction starts January

In November 2010, the University appointed the Main Contractor for the new King’s Buildings Library and construction will start towards the end of January. The new library will be open and ready for use at the start of the 2012/13 academic year.

The new library will be open and ready for use at the start of the 2012/13 academic year.

The new building, on the site of the former Robertson Library adjacent to the KB Centre, will be a striking presence on “Campus Green”. It will open on to this pleasant outdoor environment helping to make this area the “living heart” of KB. The project includes hard and soft landscaping south and west of the new building and in a corridor across to the JCM Building. This will also improve routes for pedestrians and cyclists.

The structure is engineered to the best environmental standards, including:

use of sustainable fabric

rain water harvesting

a green roof

"L-shaped" plan with double-height atrium

natural ventilation

optimal use of natural light

The KB Centre will be upgraded internally with a link to the new Library so that, until better arrangements can be made, it will continue to provide open access computer labs, study space and other services to complement the new facility.

Upgrade KB

The new Library development is another step in the process of upgrading facilities at KB for students and staff, creating modern environments for study and social purposes. Its four floors will provide a gradation of high quality environments from informal on the ground floor (where catering will be available), through a range of collaborative and private study areas on the first and second floors, to quiet, individual study on the top floor. The design takes account of recent study space re-developments in the Central Area in the Main Library and Appleton Tower.

Services

This will be the single fully-serviced library at KB, permitting improved service and long opening hours. There will be a staffed Helpdesk on the first floor, providing a first point- of-contact for enquiries relating to library, IT and e-learning services.

Collections

The three upper floors will accommodate most of the book collection, which is currently dispersed across three separate libraries. The lesser-used collections (all journals and older books) will be available to users on compact shelving on the lower floor of the present Darwin Library.

Designed for our needs

Staff from Information Services, from the College of Science and Engineering and from Estates and Buildings are working closely together on this exciting project which is one of the University’s current fund-raising projects

Further information and regular updates on the progress of construction and changes to library services will be provided during the course of the project.